Risky Business: Going Rogue During the Interview Process

April 15, 2014

3 min read

You’ve been working with a recruiter for about a month, in pursuit of the perfect job. Your recruiter just called and left you a voice mail, wanting to touch base on the status of your interview yesterday with the hiring manager. You contemplate ignoring the recruiter’s message and going straight to the hiring manager yourself. After all, you felt like you established a relationship with the manager and you feel positive that with your experience you can close the deal on your own.

STOP!

By going rogue and ending communication with your recruiter you may very well be putting your candidacy at risk for that perfect job.

Ignoring the recruiter after you’ve met the manager

By ignoring your recruiter’s advice or by not communicating with your recruiter, you are technically throwing the keys to your dream job out the window. One of the benefits of working with a recruiter is the fact that you will have access to things about the hiring manager that you would not have have known otherwise. This wisdom does not end once you are in front of the hiring manager.

Believe it or not, the manager will share feedback from the interview with the recruiter. If the manager has a concern about one particular skill set, the recruiter can share this with you along with suggestions of what you could write in your thank you note to the manager, or what you could say in your next interview in order to make the manager feel comfortable.

Also, keep in mind that the recruiter can always advise the hiring manager to go in a different direction. The hiring manager is relying on the recruiter to pinpoint any possible red flags throughout the consideration process. It’s important to your candidacy to stay on good terms with your recruiter.

Communicating directly with the manager

I’m not saying that you should not communicate with the hiring manager. What I am saying is that you should NOT go to the manager rather than the recruiter for status updates.

You may not realize, but by choosing to deviate from the established interview and hiring process between the recruiter and hiring manager, you are demonstrating your lack of respect for processes and guidelines.

This is not a good trait in most manager’s eyes. You are being assessed and watched throughout the interview process. If you have difficulty following the process, the recruiter and manager could take this as an implication that this is a problem for you in general.

Don’t be that candidate who cannot take advice and follow the process. If you have an experienced recruiter offering you advice and help, please take advantage of it. I’ve seen far too many people ignore advice and go around the process miss out on the job of their dreams.

Have you learned information and tips from a recruiter in the past that helped you through the interview process? Share your experiences below.

Julia Weeks

Julia is a skilled Recruiter with over 8 years of experience in sourcing, interviewing, and hiring within many industries globally. She works closely with hiring managers and job seekers to understand needs and desires, while offering guidance and ensuring the right fit. When not recruiting or writing, Julia enjoys spending time outside cycling, taking her dog for walks, or honing her sailing skills.

You may also like

As we’re growing up, we’re often asked what we want to be. As small children our answer is obviously always incredibly basic and typically influenced by the careers we are frequently exposed to: doctor, police officer...

Getting a “thanks, but no thanks” from a company you were hoping to work for is never an easy thing to receive. It can make some jobseekers bitter or indignant, which is understandable. However, there are many instances...

According to a famous study by The Ladders, the average HR professional takes only 6 seconds to determine whether to trash or keep your resume. Overall, it’s a fascinating and commendable piece of research, and a great...

Most hiring managers will close out an interview asking you point blank why they should hire you. If you’ve ever been stumped when it comes to this question, rest assured that you likely failed that interview. If you...